B20 Launch In Cape Town: Bringing Together Influencers To Shape Global Economic Policy In A Moment Of Connection Amidst A Divided World

THE SCENE

SOUTH AFRICA, OMIKAMI TV - Sim Tshabalala, CEO of Standard Bank — Africa’s largest lender by assets — joined global business leaders at the B20 launch in Cape Town, South Africa. As the official business engagement group of the G20, the B20 brings together influential voices to shape global economic policy. Tshabalala shared his perspective on the strength and potential of the South African business community (“SA Inc”), the opportunities ahead for the B20 presidency, and what’s next for Africa and the global economy. (31/3/2025).

THE VIEW FROM CAPE TOWN

My short flight from Johannesburg – where I live and where Standard Bank has its head office - landed in Cape Town on a Sunday evening, at around the same time as several much longer flights from the US, Europe, and the Gulf. Cape Town International managed the multi-lingual crowd with its usual efficiency. When I got to my hotel, the restaurant was filled with German and American voices. I don’t speak German, unfortunately, but I did overhear Americans discussing how much they were enjoying their dinner and some excellent South African wine — and its remarkably low dollar price. They have a point. South Africa is a highly competitive market, both for services like tourism and call centers, but also for industrial production.

A couple in the restaurant — from the UK, judging by their accents — was looking at property brochures. They should probably buy soon. Confidence in the Cape Town housing market is high. Prices have risen nearly 30% since the end of the pandemic. Quite clearly, nobody thinks they’re going to be expropriated.

Of course, not all was rosy: the mountain forest had gotten too dry after another very hot summer, and the firefighting helicopters were buzzing between the mountain and the reservoirs. And — with terrible timing — South Africa’s improving, but still fragile, power system was acting up, so there were a couple of blackouts. Even in Cape Town — Africa’s glossiest city — some African realities are undeniable. These include the informal settlements — shanty towns, to speak plainly — which stretch for miles beyond the city, our increasing vulnerability to climate change, and our shortage of infrastructure.

Most of Africa’s trends are positive. But we still have a lot to do.

THE CONTEXT

Against this background, Corporate South Africa — what locals call ‘SA Inc’ — came out in force to support and participate in the launch of South Africa’s presidency of the Business 20 (B20), the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community. South Africa’s theme for the year is ‘Inclusive Growth and Prosperity through Global Cooperation.’

The launch was impeccably orchestrated by South Africa’s apex business organisations, and SA Inc itself was represented by the chairs and CEs of the nation’s largest businesses. The signal was unmistakable: the B20, and the broader G20 process, matter a great deal to us.

We were delighted to be joined at the launch by senior business and economic policy leaders from all over the world, including John Denton, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce; Borge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, Susan Lund, Vice President of the International Finance Corporation, and Strive Masiyiwa, Africa’s most influential ITC billionaire.

The good attendance is probably a tribute to the attractions of Cape Town — but it also reflects the strength and diversity of South Africa’s trade and investment links, and the competitive excellence of our businesses. South Africa’s largest export destinations are the United States, United Kingdom, China, Germany, and India. Our largest import sources are Germany, India, the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia.

Turning from trade to FDI, US companies with South African operations include Amazon, Citibank, Ford, General Electric, Google, IBM, JP Morgan, John Deere, Microsoft, and Uber. European and Chinese corporations are equally by permanent operations in South Africa. As Standard Bank’s international clients will confirm, South Africa is a good place to do business, both in its own right and as Africa’s commercial and financial hub.

For all these reasons, it is perhaps not surprising that, even in a tense and increasingly fractured world, the degree of unanimity at the B20 launch was remarkable. Speaker after speaker stood up for a rules-based international order, for trade that is both free and fair, and for a vision of capitalist enterprise that is fair, open, and fiercely competitive — focussed as much on the long term as it is on the quarterlies.

All the speakers agreed about something else, too: this is the African century.

In most of the rest of the world, trade barriers are getting higher, populations are aging — or even shrinking — and growth is slowing. But Africa is getting more united. Our working-age population is increasing, and our economies are growing quickly and steadily. On top of that, Africa is abundantly blessed with all the resources needed to power the current state of the global economy and to transition toward a lower-carbon world.

NOW WHAT?

This is a good question. Given the flood of surprising news from the Global North, why should a business gathering way down at the tip of Africa matter?

Three reasons: first, the B20 and G20 are going to bring a lot of people to South Africa for the first time, and we are going to surprise many of them. As one European speaker said, “It’s warm here, everything works, the government is stable and centrist, the people are so friendly and optimistic — and you all seem to like and respect each other.” Of course, that’s not always true about South Africa or Africa as a whole. But it is a lot truer than many people realise. The B20/G20 year — just by showing people what South Africa is really like — is going to attract a lot of investment.

Second, the B20 matters because it emphasises that the international business community truly does have many of the features of a community. Whatever our nationalities or industries, we agree far more than we differ, and our trade and investment relationships create a thick web of connections and mutual understandings. Politics may sometimes pull the world apart, but business remains a powerful voice for stability and cooperation. By the looks of things, that voice may have to speak up louder over the next few years. SA Inc is ready to play its part.

Finally — speaking of voice — SA Inc is determined that this is going to be a distinctly African B20, one that clearly expresses our perspectives and our preferences. It’s clear that the South African government feels the same way about the G20.

But the world should put caricatures and anxieties aside. Under South African leadership, the B20 and G20 processes may be a bit more colourful than some, but they will be carefully respectful of precedent and international law, rigorously fair, consultative, evidence-led, and will produce recommendations that any well-informed person can get behind.

Just to use the task force that I chair as an example: Yes, we are going to take a hard look at how African risk — and developing country risk in general — is perceived and priced. We think there is already a great deal of solid evidence that African countries, and many other emerging markets, are paying more to borrow than they would if they were more accurately rated by the agencies and more correctly perceived by the international capital markets.

But, on our watch, this is not going to degenerate into a game of ‘blame the agencies’ or ‘divorce the dollar.’ We intend to go only where the empirical data leads. We will call for highly specific and very carefully designed improvements in the conduct of both agencies and borrowers. SA Inc will avoid exaggeration, emotional reasoning, and political partisanship. We will be guided by the facts, by our deep commitments to upholding human dignity and to fairness (remember our history), and by our determination to be good and constructive global corporate citizens.

ROOM FOR DISAGREEMENT

As several speakers (including from the B20 Secretariat) pointed out, there’s a real risk that the B20 and G20 could degenerate into mere ‘talk shops.’ They’re not wrong, but we have two answers.

First, South Africa’s B20 is not going to indulge in vague and windy declarations of general principles. All our task forces will produce recommendations that can be implemented, measured, and carried forward by the next B20 and G20 Presidencies, our good friends in the United States.

Second, we plead guilty as charged — the B20 is, no question, a forum for wide discussion. That’s a big part of the point. Our task forces will be co-chaired by business leaders from New York to Beijing, Johannesburg to London, and everywhere in between. We will be a living demonstration that the global community is still very much alive.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Over the next six months, the B20 task forces will develop our recommendations to the G20. Then, from July onwards, we will advocate for these proposals at international, African, and South African forums leading up to the B20 and G20 conferences to be held in Johannesburg in November.

In a volatile and fragmented world, this African G20 and B20 will be a point of light. 

(Sim Tshabalala) OMIKAMI TV